NCSU_Brewer
Well-Known Member
Last night I brewed a Blue Moon clone that I posted in this thread. This was my second brew and first non-kit brew. I learned a lot from the experience and I'm hoping I can help out some of my fellow "green" brewers.
First, some background on my set-up. I brew in my kitchen. I use a 4 gallon kettle heated by a gas range. I'm fortunate in that I have a lot of counter space (~6 feet to the right of the range).
The first time I brewed, my wife commented that the kitchen looked like a war zone during the brew. I cleaned up, of course, but she couldn't get over how bad things looked mid-brew. Which brings me to lesson #1:
Get out everything you'll need before you start.
Bucket, carboy, auto-siphon, ingredients, you name it. Since I have plenty of space, I also like to lay out my ingredients in the order I'll be using them. I figure I'm less likely to add the aroma hops when I should add the bittering, etc.
Once I get my steep going, I start mixing up my sanitizing solution. On my first brew, I never would have dreamed of multitasking, mostly because I'm the type of person who loses track of time very easily. That was lesson #2 for me:
Invest in a brewing app.
Seriously, do it. The $8 I spent on BeerSmith is worth it for the timer alone. As long as my phone is with me, I never have to worry about forgetting my steep or forgetting to add an ingredient.
For brew #1 I waited until the water started boiling to begin adding my DME. This time, because I was in a bit more of a hurry, I added my DME as the water was heating. That's when I learned lesson #3:
DME is exceptionally flammable. Consider turning the heat off while you add it.
Yep. I added while the gas burner was on. Yep. spilled some. Yep, it burst into a small, match-sized flame. Fortunately I was able to clean this up without much fuss. Lesson #4:
Clean as you go.
It can be very tempting to leave the cleaning until the end. Let me tell you, last night at midnight, the last thing I wanted to do was clean. Fortunately all I had to do was wash my kettle and rinse out my bottling bucket (more on that in a moment). There's often a lot of "dead time" in brewing, especially once your hot break has subsided and you've made your bittering additions (assuming your recipe isn't overly-complicated). I had 15 minutes waiting for my wort to boil, and 30 minutes between my bittering addition and my coriander addition. I cleaned during that time.
Everything post-boil went smoothly. I chill my kettle in a sink filled with ice water. My transfer process is 2 steps: I pour out of my kettle and into my sanitized bottling bucket which is covered with a straining cloth. This captures the majority of crud. I then pour out of my bottling bucket through a funnel and into my carboy. From there I top up to 5 gallons, pitch my yeast, and tuck the carboy away in my fermentation chamber. That reminds me, lesson #5:
Be extremely careful carrying a full glass carboy.
When I brewed my first beer I carried the full carboy to its fermentation spot (a corner in our office) with my bare hands. Then I read all of the carboy horror stories on here. I promptly invested in a brew hauler. Best money I've spent since getting into the hobby. If you opt not to get a brew hauler, get a sturdy milk crate.
The following are additional suggestions. Seasoned brewers, please chime in with your own.
1. For your first brew, buy a kit!
2. Save your kit instructions.
3. For your first non-kit brew, pick a recipe similar to a kit you've done before.
4. When in doubt, use the kit instructions from #2 as a reference.
5. Wear pants and close-toed, rubber sole shoes when moving your carboy. I can't emphasize enough the importance of being safe when handling glass.
Others?
First, some background on my set-up. I brew in my kitchen. I use a 4 gallon kettle heated by a gas range. I'm fortunate in that I have a lot of counter space (~6 feet to the right of the range).
The first time I brewed, my wife commented that the kitchen looked like a war zone during the brew. I cleaned up, of course, but she couldn't get over how bad things looked mid-brew. Which brings me to lesson #1:
Get out everything you'll need before you start.
Bucket, carboy, auto-siphon, ingredients, you name it. Since I have plenty of space, I also like to lay out my ingredients in the order I'll be using them. I figure I'm less likely to add the aroma hops when I should add the bittering, etc.
Once I get my steep going, I start mixing up my sanitizing solution. On my first brew, I never would have dreamed of multitasking, mostly because I'm the type of person who loses track of time very easily. That was lesson #2 for me:
Invest in a brewing app.
Seriously, do it. The $8 I spent on BeerSmith is worth it for the timer alone. As long as my phone is with me, I never have to worry about forgetting my steep or forgetting to add an ingredient.
For brew #1 I waited until the water started boiling to begin adding my DME. This time, because I was in a bit more of a hurry, I added my DME as the water was heating. That's when I learned lesson #3:
DME is exceptionally flammable. Consider turning the heat off while you add it.
Yep. I added while the gas burner was on. Yep. spilled some. Yep, it burst into a small, match-sized flame. Fortunately I was able to clean this up without much fuss. Lesson #4:
Clean as you go.
It can be very tempting to leave the cleaning until the end. Let me tell you, last night at midnight, the last thing I wanted to do was clean. Fortunately all I had to do was wash my kettle and rinse out my bottling bucket (more on that in a moment). There's often a lot of "dead time" in brewing, especially once your hot break has subsided and you've made your bittering additions (assuming your recipe isn't overly-complicated). I had 15 minutes waiting for my wort to boil, and 30 minutes between my bittering addition and my coriander addition. I cleaned during that time.
Everything post-boil went smoothly. I chill my kettle in a sink filled with ice water. My transfer process is 2 steps: I pour out of my kettle and into my sanitized bottling bucket which is covered with a straining cloth. This captures the majority of crud. I then pour out of my bottling bucket through a funnel and into my carboy. From there I top up to 5 gallons, pitch my yeast, and tuck the carboy away in my fermentation chamber. That reminds me, lesson #5:
Be extremely careful carrying a full glass carboy.
When I brewed my first beer I carried the full carboy to its fermentation spot (a corner in our office) with my bare hands. Then I read all of the carboy horror stories on here. I promptly invested in a brew hauler. Best money I've spent since getting into the hobby. If you opt not to get a brew hauler, get a sturdy milk crate.
The following are additional suggestions. Seasoned brewers, please chime in with your own.
1. For your first brew, buy a kit!
2. Save your kit instructions.
3. For your first non-kit brew, pick a recipe similar to a kit you've done before.
4. When in doubt, use the kit instructions from #2 as a reference.
5. Wear pants and close-toed, rubber sole shoes when moving your carboy. I can't emphasize enough the importance of being safe when handling glass.
Others?
